Antrim Football Thread

[Would ye whist]

Fair enough on all the points you raise, however it is foolish to believe we are only loosing or have lost refs in this county due to abuse, I know for a fact the two I mentioned above stepped away beacuse of how they were being treated by the administrators and not fans/players, they have cited favouritism towards refs in the clique (I get it you deny there is one) when it comes to the bigger games

That's not down to cliques though, we haven't that many referee's interested in doing it, I was out mentoring a ref at the weekend before my game and I hope he'll stay at it, he seemed to enjoy it and as an good ex player its the type of players/supporters want, but, If I'm doing 4 games a week, that'll show ya how difficult or maybe limited we are as a county, and you can throw money at it all ya want it won't keep them if they are getting abuse in any shape or form.

As for ref's abilities, everyone has a ref they prefer, when I get to see us play I'm pretty neutral on it, before  being a ref when managing teams there were certain refs that I would have liked doing our games and others that I'd prefer not too. Them's the breaks

[Milltown Row2]

Fair enough on all the points you raise, however it is foolish to believe we are only loosing or have lost refs in this county due to abuse, I know for a fact the two I mentioned above stepped away beacuse of how they were being treated by the administrators and not fans/players, they have cited favouritism towards refs in the clique (I get it you deny there is one) when it comes to the bigger games

That's not down to cliques though, we haven't that many referee's interested in doing it, I was out mentoring a ref at the weekend before my game and I hope he'll stay at it, he seemed to enjoy it and as an good ex player its the type of players/supporters want, but, If I'm doing 4 games a week, that'll show ya how difficult or maybe limited we are as a county, and you can throw money at it all ya want it won't keep them if they are getting abuse in any shape or form.

As for ref's abilities, everyone has a ref they prefer, when I get to see us play I'm pretty neutral on it, before  being a ref when managing teams there were certain refs that I would have liked doing our games and others that I'd prefer not too. Them's the breaks

Both lads have done all the finals you can do, unfortunately when your team is in the final every year its impossible to get a 'big' game, Sean been doing this a long time, and done multiple finals, though he's still involved just not ref'ing.

There are other factors to take on board also when getting 'big' games, the ref's that are going through the intercounty set up need games at certain levels to progress, if they are not getting the games then how do they improve? These are a measure.

Personally, I've never sought a game, I'm as happy doing a reserve game as I am doing a Cargin V Lamhs game, but I also never turn a game down either, messages are sent out and and if the date is ok I hit YES. If unavailable I'll say I'm available another day at the weekend if that suits and you can bet your bottom dollar a game will appear.

I also think its good to reward lads that are dependable too 

[Duine Inteacht Eile]

Ulster Colleges have their hands full with appeals, the 5th year Foresters Cup final shouldn't have went to penalties last wek and St Mary's have an appeal  in at the minute. 

Was there an objection at the time or just after they lost?  Assuming it was at the time and then followed up officially?

I don't believe there was an appeal but there was/is an investigation into Ballycastle playing a ringer.
And the game shouldn't have gone to penalties.

[SaffronSports]

Fair enough on all the points you raise, however it is foolish to believe we are only loosing or have lost refs in this county due to abuse, I know for a fact the two I mentioned above stepped away beacuse of how they were being treated by the administrators and not fans/players, they have cited favouritism towards refs in the clique (I get it you deny there is one) when it comes to the bigger games

That's not down to cliques though, we haven't that many referee's interested in doing it, I was out mentoring a ref at the weekend before my game and I hope he'll stay at it, he seemed to enjoy it and as an good ex player its the type of players/supporters want, but, If I'm doing 4 games a week, that'll show ya how difficult or maybe limited we are as a county, and you can throw money at it all ya want it won't keep them if they are getting abuse in any shape or form.

As for ref's abilities, everyone has a ref they prefer, when I get to see us play I'm pretty neutral on it, before  being a ref when managing teams there were certain refs that I would have liked doing our games and others that I'd prefer not too. Them's the breaks

Both lads have done all the finals you can do, unfortunately when your team is in the final every year its impossible to get a 'big' game, Sean been doing this a long time, and done multiple finals, though he's still involved just not ref'ing.

There are other factors to take on board also when getting 'big' games, the ref's that are going through the intercounty set up need games at certain levels to progress, if they are not getting the games then how do they improve? These are a measure.

Personally, I've never sought a game, I'm as happy doing a reserve game as I am doing a Cargin V Lamhs game, but I also never turn a game down either, messages are sent out and and if the date is ok I hit YES. If unavailable I'll say I'm available another day at the weekend if that suits and you can bet your bottom dollar a game will appear.

I also think its good to reward lads that are dependable too 

Did I see you doing mentor at a game this evening?

[Milltown Row2]

Fair enough on all the points you raise, however it is foolish to believe we are only loosing or have lost refs in this county due to abuse, I know for a fact the two I mentioned above stepped away beacuse of how they were being treated by the administrators and not fans/players, they have cited favouritism towards refs in the clique (I get it you deny there is one) when it comes to the bigger games

That's not down to cliques though, we haven't that many referee's interested in doing it, I was out mentoring a ref at the weekend before my game and I hope he'll stay at it, he seemed to enjoy it and as an good ex player its the type of players/supporters want, but, If I'm doing 4 games a week, that'll show ya how difficult or maybe limited we are as a county, and you can throw money at it all ya want it won't keep them if they are getting abuse in any shape or form.

As for ref's abilities, everyone has a ref they prefer, when I get to see us play I'm pretty neutral on it, before  being a ref when managing teams there were certain refs that I would have liked doing our games and others that I'd prefer not too. Them's the breaks

Both lads have done all the finals you can do, unfortunately when your team is in the final every year its impossible to get a 'big' game, Sean been doing this a long time, and done multiple finals, though he's still involved just not ref'ing.

There are other factors to take on board also when getting 'big' games, the ref's that are going through the intercounty set up need games at certain levels to progress, if they are not getting the games then how do they improve? These are a measure.

Personally, I've never sought a game, I'm as happy doing a reserve game as I am doing a Cargin V Lamhs game, but I also never turn a game down either, messages are sent out and and if the date is ok I hit YES. If unavailable I'll say I'm available another day at the weekend if that suits and you can bet your bottom dollar a game will appear.

I also think its good to reward lads that are dependable too 

Did I see you doing mentor at a game this evening?

I was in glorious Ballymena for a derby game, I did have someone trying to explain the rules to me after the game..when I mentioned we need people like you on board he was strangely quiet...

Glenravel have some numbers at that age

[YoungSaff]

Do we give Antrim any sort of a chance tomorrow lol ?

what are the thoughts on the +12 handicap??

[Hectic]

Armagh are the All Ireland Champions.  We have just got relegated to Div 4.  The odds are a fair reflection but does not mean we can't go out and work our socks off and at try to at least beat the handicap. 

The ticketing is unfortunate as a ground with a majority Antrim following could have helped in that regard.  But Armagh are a well supported team so a case for plenty of them being there too.

[Take the Mark]

Armagh are the All Ireland Champions.  We have just got relegated to Div 4.  The odds are a fair reflection but does not mean we can't go out and work our socks off and at try to at least beat the handicap. 

The ticketing is unfortunate as a ground with a majority Antrim following could have helped in that regard.  But Armagh are a well supported team so a case for plenty of them being there too.

That would not have happened regardless of where it was played. It wouldn't even be close to 50/50.

[BigGreenField]

A win isn't impossible , then again Tom Cruise and Ving Rhames aren't togging out.

Main thing is a bit of fight, last time out at the athletic grounds only 2 or 3 players git near their normal level and not sure one of the forwards laid a glove on anything.

Performance for the full game remains the aim and see how long they can keep Armagh from running the bench.

[Hectic]

Armagh are the All Ireland Champions.  We have just got relegated to Div 4.  The odds are a fair reflection but does not mean we can't go out and work our socks off and at try to at least beat the handicap. 

The ticketing is unfortunate as a ground with a majority Antrim following could have helped in that regard.  But Armagh are a well supported team so a case for plenty of them being there too.

That would not have happened regardless of where it was played. It wouldn't even be close to 50/50.

Fair enough and unfortunately even that unlikely.

[Pub Bore]

Do we give Antrim any sort of a chance tomorrow lol ?

what are the thoughts on the +12 handicap??

To be honest, that flatters Antrim a bit.  If Armagh bring their A game for 70 mins they'll win by 20+.

[YoungSaff]

Do we give Antrim any sort of a chance tomorrow lol ?

what are the thoughts on the +12 handicap??

To be honest, that flatters Antrim a bit.  If Armagh bring their A game for 70 mins they'll win by 20+.

I agree with you here Pub Bore , as much as I don't want to see it I can see 20+ , you see what they have done to Derry etc , especially with the 2 pointers

[imtommygunn]

Division 4 to division 1 divide is huge. You would love to see a shock but it'd be as big a shock as the championship has ever seen if it were to happen.

Hopefully we can keep it competitive for as long as possible.

[SaffronSports]

Realistically the only reason it's as close as -12 is they're factoring in, Armagh taking their foot off the gas when the games won early.

[Milltown Row2]

Based on the division difference and the fact that they are All Ireland champions then the handicap is fair enough..

Would hope that we don't get opened up too much and that they can back up the stance (correct one) on having the game at Corrigan. Think we need to be tight as a drum and stifle them as much as they can and accept that they are a far better and the best teams win.

I'd say a truer reflection is -14, with the fast ground and good weather it could be more, if we don't put a shift in, we had some turmoil with Cavan a while back and they gave us a terrible time when the game was played